Sunday, 22 November 2015

150 IS supporters in South India

150 IS ‘supporters’ in South India

A brother and sister who received over Rs. 50,000 from a
mysterious benefactor to prepare their travel documents, an MBA holder
and his wife, a Google employee, brother of a SIMI activist killed by
the police, and several engineering students.There
is no set pattern for the kind of Islamic State sympathisers under watch
by Indian agencies, except that most of them are from the southern
States, and many have an engineering background.

18 from Telangana

Agencies are believed to be monitoring up to 150 youths. Among them at least 18 are from Telangana, and many from Tamil Nadu. “It
may well be that these States have better surveillance. Or it could
well be reflective of the reality,” an official said about the large
number of south Indian Muslims being under the scanner.

In Telangana, a 21-year-old youth from a middle class family seems to be a key figure motivating people.

Among
those who have bought into his efforts is his sister, who is probably
willing to travel to Syria as a nurse. Their parents seem to have no
idea of their secret life.

Officials suspect four others are also part of this group that may have made elaborate plans to go to Syria.